Roman shopping list deciphered

The discovery is part of a project by Oxford University researchers to identify the markings on hundreds of Roman letters, contracts and other documents found in the 1970s by excavators at Hadrian's wall - the most important monument built by the Romans in Britain.

The documents were originally written in wax on wooden tablets but after 2000 years, the wax has degraded and all that remains of many of the scripts are faint scratches in the pieces of wood.

Oxford historian, Dr Roger Tomlin deciphered one of the documents and found it to be a shopping list for a Roman solider. It reveals that to buy a clothing outfit at auction, an average Roman soldier would have paid 8 percent of his yearly income (25 denarii). He would have had to fork out another 10 percent for a cloak to protect him from Britain's hostile climate.

In order to read the stylus marks on each tablet, the researchers managed to exaggerate the faint scratchings. Using virtual technology they eliminated the wood grain from the tablets. By using low, focussed light, they identified the scratches by analysing their highlighted edges and the shadows they cast.

Next, the researchers aim to develop a computer program that will help them to assess the probability that certain scratches in the wood are particular letters, speeding up the time taken to read more tablets.

The UK Science Museum is currently displaying part of an ancient Roman shopping list that dates from 75-125 AD, and examples of the pens that the Romans used.